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Woman beating: SC slams Punjab govt

The apex court directed the Parkash Singh Badal government to provide security to the woman, though not by state police, but other agencies.

Rejecting the District Magistrate's report which said such incidents are not rare in the state, the Supreme Court said the document was 'misleading and factually incorrect'.

"The report is misleading and factually incorrect. We will put it in a dustbin. We can't just accept that such incidents 'happen' ... we are really bothered about what happens daily on the streets - helpless women being beaten up mercilessly," said the apex court.

Empathizing with the woman, the SC said: "We can't restore her dignity; all we can do is to put balm on her feelings."

Criticizing the role of police and police recruitment procedure, the court said: "No police recruitment takes place without money."

The apex court also hinted that it might impose a huge fine on the Punjab Police for the incident.

In March, four policemen were suspended in Punjab after they were caught on camera hitting a woman who purportedly tried to complain about being harassed by a truck driver.

The 23-year-old woman said she had been harassed by the truck driver while returning from a wedding party.

The family of the victim reported the incident to the constables who they spotted on the road at Tarn Taran near Amritsar.

But after taking a bribe from the driver the constables started beating her, she alleged and the video of the incident was shot on a cellphone by a witness.

A senior police officer later tried to defend the cops involved saying the constables were only trying to prevent a fight.

Some other police officers said an altercation began between the family and the cops when constables tried to arrest the victim's father, who was allegedly drunk and was misbehaving.